“O Captain! My Captain” – Walt Whitman, November 4, 1865

Tomorrow, February 12, is the 202nd birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Almost 150 years after his death, Lincoln’s words remain among the most important and profound in U.S. history. In addition to his well-earned reputation for eloquent wisdom, Lincoln has also inspired others to great words as well. Among those was poet Walt Whitman, whose 1865 poem “O Captain, My Captain!” remains a stirring tribute to Lincoln and a powerful expression of grief for his death.

(pictured, Lincoln’s Tomb, Springfield, Illinois, February 2009)

O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up–for you the flag is flung–for you the bugle trills; 10
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths–for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won; 20
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.